Providing care for animals during the California wildfires

In the morning of January 7, 2025, a series of wildlife fires started in the Los Angeles area of California. Fueled by powerful winds and dry conditions, the fires engulfed homes and land across thousands of acres. The fires have caused families across the area to flee their homes, and some injured, including pets and other animals.¹

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To help those impacted by the fires, Antonio Pedraza, DVM, MVM, cert SAS, MRCVS, and his team at the Sevilla Veterinary Hospital in Santa Monica, California, opened its doors 24/7 to provide free veterinary care to pets harmed in the devastating fires. On this week's episode of The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360, Pedraza joins host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, to share what this experience as like and when he began to take the action needed to help these families and pets.

Below is a partial transcript

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: That's incredible. And not only that, too, Doctor, I mean, you've opened up your clinic seven days a week you're seeing patients and providing care and helping out. Share with the listeners what what you and your team have been doing.

Antonio Pedraza, DVM, MVM, cert SAS, MRCVS: The day of the fire that was on Wednesday, we basically, we were glued to the TV, basically just we didn't know what to do. And there was one moment that we decide to move forward. And as you know, veterinarians always we like to to do a little bit step on and step in, basically, and get better and help our patients and people, and what we decide to do is we decide to close our normal veterinary services and focus on providing care to the animals in needs.

All the members of my hospital, we were able to show up to work even though they were very close to the to the fire, but they really wanted to do something different, right? And we offer a wide range of medical attention from of free treatment, including exam, diagnostics, X-rays, any kind of blood work, medication, to ensure that every pet received attention that they needed. And as you know, there was a lot of local rescues that were said to be full with this place animal and this animal, they need to be treated, and also they were separated from their family or injured from the these [disasters], you know, what we decide to do is to provide any kind of medical care and surgical care free, with no cost to the to the patient.

Reference

1. Stelloh T, Lenthang M, Cohen R, Helsel P. California wildfires: What we know about LA-area fires, what caused them, who is affected and more. NBC News. January 18, 2025. Accessed January 29, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-wildfires-what-we-know-palisades-eaton-los-angeles-rcna188239